OTC: Award mixes oil and water

A marine biologist winning an award at the Offshore Technology Conference? Did I hear that right?
Yup.
James Ray, president and founder of Oceanic Environmental Solutions, cut his teeth as a marine biologist for 30 years with Shell Oil, and he was the company’s manager of environmental sciences for most of that time.
He won an OTC achievement award for individuals today, and gave a thank-you speech much like those at the Oscars.
When he joined Shell in 1984, he said friends questioned how he’d succeed in an engineering world. He was the guy engineers went to regarding potential environmental impacts of their oil exploration and production.
“It always drove the engineers crazy when they would ask me something and I’d respond with, ‘Maybe,'” he told a luncheon audience.
Someone thought he did something right. Ray is the first recipient of the award for environmental achievement rather than engineering or some other petro-centered ability.